The economy is growing at perhaps 3-4% but much of the growth comes from the exploitation of natural resources from gas to gemstones whose proceeds mainly benefit the regime's pampered families.
That might be slightly naive at the moment considering the current political climate but, with extensive deposits of natural gas, oil and coal, along with gemstones such as rubies, emeralds and sapphires, there will be some people ready to risk investing in a country which has such a diversity of natural resources.